Ixonos reveals multi-window capability for Android

As Android devices get more powerful and more ubiquitous, people start to take and do things that were probably not envisioned by those who created the operating system. One such example is this powerful multi-window feature for Android developed by mobile solutions company Ixonos.

While Android has been capable of true multitasking right from day one, it followed the convention of all mobile platforms and presented only one window to the user at a time. But as screens got larger and systems-on-chip got more powerful, the needs and use cases of users have also evolved to include workflows that have only been used on desktops, such as having multiple windows open, either overlapping or side by side.

Ixonos is hardly the first or only provider of such a solution. Samsung has a similar Multi Window feature but is limited to only a certain line of devices and apps. There are also other per-app solutions out there but each is its own isolated garden. Ixonos combines all of those into a universal system that lets users maximize, minimize, restore, and resize any app in separate windows. But Ixonos is also adding something new with its Super Window feature that can tile two to four apps and resize the space taken up by one app while automatically adjusting the other apps. Samsung's implementation, on the other hand, is limited to only two windows at a time. You can watch the video below to see the feature and Super Window in action.

Of course such features may not be practical on smaller screens, especially smartphones smaller than 5 inches. Still, it is interesting to observe if a demand for such feature grows beyond a niche group of users, enough to push Google to bake in official support that will bring Android even closer to a full desktop OS.